


Laughing at the Reaper

by werewolfsaz



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Blackouts, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fainting, First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, Kind of show compliant, Love Confessions, M/M, Tumblr Prompt, hurting!Danno, sick!Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-20 18:20:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13723362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/werewolfsaz/pseuds/werewolfsaz
Summary: He couldn't breathe, couldn't get his heart rate under control. Sick sweat coated his body, pooled on the hollow of his throat, the small of his back. His hands and feet were numb, his lips felt tingly and cold.





	Laughing at the Reaper

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, my beauties.  
> So, this was requested on Tumblr and who am I to refuse? I hope I have done what they wanted. I tried.  
> If you would like to request anything or even just come say hello, come see me on Tumblr  
> [here](https://werewolfsazstories.tumblr.com/)  
> Thank you as always, feel free to leave a comment if you like.  
> Enjoy

He couldn't breathe, couldn't get his heart rate under control. Sick sweat coated his body, pooled on the hollow of his throat, the small of his back. His hands and feet were numb, his lips felt tingly and cold. Air stuttered in and out of his mouth too fast, chest hitching in erratic jolts. The autopsy room lights were painfully brights, blurring and merging into one mass of blinding whiteness.  
"Danny? Danny!"  
The voice was far away, fuzzy, distorted. Danny felt his knees unhinged, felt the bad one scream briefly, and had one lightning-fast moment to think 'damn, I'm gonna pass out' before darkness covered his vision.

"Danny! Danno, come on, wake up. What the hell happened?"  
Warm, familiar arms were holding him, curled under his back, across his chest. A big, calloused hand was smoothing through his hair, across his forehead. That voice... It was as good to hear that voice, amazing, wonderful. Steve had the best voice, Danny should tell him that, should tell him a lot of things, should spill all the words he'd kept bottled up all these years before....

The thought barely formed before Danny was hunching away from Steve's warmth, stomach rolling violently, dry, painful heaves shaking his already trembling frame. That big hand was back, rubbing soothing circles between his shoulders as he coughed and shook, fighting the stomach cramps down.  
"Danny? You okay, bud? What happened? Did you eat something funny? Oh God, was there something wrong with the body? I need to call Max..."  
"Not...Nothing like that," the blond cop choked out, sinking back down, realising that they weren't in the autopsy room anymore. The floor was cold against his back, the warm firmness of Steve's thigh under his head a pleasant contrast.

"Well, what the hell?" the big SEAL demanded, frowning down at Danny's still pale face. "I've never seen you pass out before. I thought you'd had a heart attack or something. Are you sick? Did you eat something funky?"  
Running a hand across his face, tired and scared and sick to his stomach with everything that had happened recently, Danny opened his sky blue eyes, locking them with Steve's changeable hazel ones, the image blurring as acid hot tears scalded Danny's eyes.  
"Did I ever tell you that you have the nicest voice?" Danny murmured softly, his lips ticking up in a small smile at the surprised look on Steve's expressive face even as he swiped the tears away.  
"Danny, wha...?" Steve huffed, confused, hands fluttering in unsure circles.

"I should have told you years ago but I just never got round to it. Never got round to telling you a lot of things, important things, stupid things... Like, did you know that cheetahs whistle instead of roaring? Learned that one night when I couldn't sleep. I haven't been able to sleep a lot recently, my brain whirling a million miles a second. Questions, what ifs, different scenarios of old cases, old memories, all mixed up with what's gonna happen in the future. With Grace, with Charlie... With you."  
"Me? Danno..."  
"Shut up a minute, let me say my piece before you steamroller me again."

Sitting up with a groan, head thumping painfully, stomach threatening revolt before subsiding with an ominous growl, Danny leant his head on the wall, wincing when he pressed on the bump he hadn't realised was there. A memento from his floor diving skills, clearly.  
"I'm gonna say this and then we're gonna get up and solve this case. Only once that's done will we talk about what I'm about to say, alright? I need you to say yes, Steve."  
"Sure, Danno, whatever you want. Just... What's going on?"  
Danny hated hearing that tone in Steve's voice, that soft, uncertain note that meant he was scared, on edge.

"I haven't slept since you were told about the radiation poisoning..."  
"Danny..."  
"Shut. Up," Danny's voice had gone hard and brittle, his control wavering for a moment, more tears turning the hall into streaks of different coloured light. "Let me finish. I've had a lot of time to think, with that lack of sleep I mentioned, and I have decided that I'm tired of being scared, of being in denial, of being too worried about other people to go for what I really want. So, this is how it is. I'm in love with your idiot ass, McGarrett. Have been for years and never acted on it, thought I was doing the right thing by not saying anything, by letting you live in ignorance. But now... Now, everything's different. This isn't a gunshot, a liver, a stupid stunt to save people and give me a heart attack. This is really it, the rest of your life, living with this... Shit coursing through your body!"

Steve flinched at the venom in Danny's voice, green-brown-blue eyes wide as he stared at his partner, his best friend, the one person in the world he relied on completely. The words hovered between them, filtering through Steve's many years of defences, worming through the cracks in his armour, just like everything Danny did, and sinking into his mind to detonate with the power of an exploding star. He blinked, stunned, speechless, only able to listen as Danny continued to speak.  
"When you made that crack in there," he jerked his thumb towards the autopsy room viciously. "About how they would need lead suits when it was your turn on the table... It was too much. That's why I blacked out because that body became YOU in my head and I was just stood there with years of unspoken thoughts and feelings and..."  
Danny stopped, breathing heavily, scrubbing angrily at his burning eyes, fighting away the urge to throw up or scream or pass out, maybe all three at once.

"I'm sorry, Danno," Steve's deep, gentle voice broke through the rushing of blood in his ears, helped push back the hollowness in Danny's head. "I... I was just blowing smoke, you know? Laughing at the reaper? I had no idea... I mean, I HOPED but I never dreamed you would feel the same way about me that I feel about you."  
Danny stopped breathing for a second, afraid this was a dream or a hallucination brought on by sleep deprivation. Looking at Steve, his partner, his friend, the one person in this world he trusted his kids with completely, trusted his life with, the blond cop saw hope and trepidation in those beloved eyes, saw warmth and love swirling in them, saw fear and regret and desperate longing. It was like looking into a mirror.

"You giant idiot," Danny chuckled, the shards of his pain breaking up, shifting to lodge in new places but not as deeply. "Both of us are idiots. I love you, Steve. And I'm here, forever, for everything. I'm not going anywhere, not ever."  
"I love you, Danny," Steve murmured back, moving to drop his head to Danny's shoulder. "I'm scared but I'm fighting so I can spend every second I have left with you and the kids."  
Danny let his head rest on Steve's the pair drawing warmth and strength from each other as they sat on the cold floor. The first touch of calloused fingers made Danny flinched before he realised it was Steve clumsily taking his hand, slotting their fingers together with comfortable familiarity. Just like everything else with them, it was a perfect fit.

"We should get up and solve this case," Danny murmured sometime later, shifting slightly to try and wake his butt up. Steve groaned but sat up, smiling almost shyly at his partner as he jiggled his legs, trying to encourage the blood back into them.  
"And then we can talk about this... About us, more, right?" he asked in that adorable excited puppy way of his that Danny loved deeply.  
"For as long as you want," he promised, smiling as Steve climbed to his feet. He held out a hand. "Help me up, my ass is completely asleep."  
Steve chuckled, gripping Danny and pulling him up and up, right into Steve's arms, right into Steve's lips. The kiss took Danny by surprise but he could feel the softness of it, the sweetness, and it took only a second before he was kissing back just as sweetly.

Danny silently promised that, from this day on, there would never be a day when he didn't feel that softness, that gentle sweetness. For as long as he could, for as long as they were together, forever.


End file.
